Infosys Looking For Non-founder CEO

Indian IT giant Infosys is looking to appoint an outsider as its first non-founder CEO, according to insider sources. This is in contrast with the popular perception that the company will promote one of its own executives to the top post.

The company's board wants to appoint a person who can act as a ‘strategy guru’ and articulate the company’s propositions in the boardrooms of the world's top corporations, as per sources.

"It's an ideal scenario if the company is able to find a visionary leader from the world of technology," a source said. Infosys did not comment on this story.

Infosys’ founder NR Narayana Murthy was recalled by the board in 2013 and started operating as executive chairman, following the company’s below par performance.

Murthy has been emphasising on minimising costs and aggressively bidding for contracts to develop and maintain software applications. The primary challenge for Infosys is to increase revenues from newer technologies like Cloud computing and data analytics.

"Murthy wants to make sure Infosys does not become irrelevant; not at least when he's handing over the baton to another chairman," a source said.

Infosys is facing the twin challenges of adapting to the changes in the world of technology and simultaneously putting a leadership structure in place. Its low-cost global delivery model has been replicated by its rivals like IBM and Accenture. Moreover, cut-throat competition from its rivals has forced Infosys to become flexible on its premium pricing.

"Chief Information Officers (CIO) are now looking for vendors and partners who are capable of having conversations with their CEOs and boards. The old world IT services executives are not good enough," said the CIO of a US-based client. Rishikesha T Krishnan, director and professor of Strategy at IIM-Indore, said that the industry is full of people with good execution skills, but they have little ability to handle changing business models.

"You do need unorthodox solutions to tackle this. Getting somebody from outside the services industry is an option," he said.